


How to Train Your Partner 101

by darkone



Series: Lightning - IN SPACE!! [3]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, IN SPACE!, M/M, POV Alternating, Scents & Smells, Soulmates, Tampa Bay Lightning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-05-28 06:45:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19388662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkone/pseuds/darkone
Summary: Tony’s previous partner retired a month ago and he’s been anxiously awaiting a new one. He’s tired of going on missions with other well established teams because it makes him feel like a third wheel.





	How to Train Your Partner 101

**Author's Note:**

> A big thanks to my always lovely beta ♥

Tony stops playing with the cuff of his sleeve because his nervous habit was making it start to fray on the edge. He shouldn’t be nervous, he knows why Victor called him here. He sighs to himself and decides to focus on other things in Victor’s office. From the countless awards and certificates lining the walls to the bookshelves filled with military strategy, weapon maintenance...and are those cookbooks? 

Tony shrugs and moves his attention to Victor’s desk, his eyes immediately falling on the picture of Victor with Captain Stamkos, their wedding photo by the looks of it. He can’t help but mirror the happy smile on their faces. 

Tony steels his expression when he hears the door sliding open behind him. 

“Excuse my tardiness, Cirelli,” Victor strides in and immediately takes a seat at his desk. 

“A commander is never late, sir, his subordinates are just early.”

“You’ve been hanging around Cally too much if you’re talking like that,” Victor smirks. “Now, I’m sure you’ve read your new orders that we finally acquired a new partner for you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tony’s previous partner retired a month ago and he’s been anxiously awaiting a new one. He’s tired of going on missions with other well established teams because it makes him feel like a third wheel. 

“An important detail about your new partner is he is just that. New. Your task is to train him to our standards before we send you back on your regular missions.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize he was a completely new recruit,” Tony frowns. He’s never trained anyone before. His previous partner was already a well-seasoned veteran by the time Tony was assigned to the _SSE Bolt_. 

“Fresh from the Academy,” Victor pulls out a file from his desk. “He’s Izalivian though, so you should have no trouble training him.” 

Victor hands Tony the folder and he flips it open. 

_Mikhail Sergachev_. 

“I think you’ll find his transcripts impressive. Izalivian’s natural abilities make them perfect for this line of work.” 

_Fatigue Immunity. Disease Invulnerability._

Tony’s almost worried how he’s going to keep up with his new partner. 

“You’ll need to meet him at the training facility. He should be finishing up with his debriefing now.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll go now.”

“Train him well, you’ll both be sent on training missions within the week. Dismissed..”

“Thank you, Commander Hedman.” Tony salutes before leaving.

~~

The training facility is mostly empty when Tony arrives, but he doesn’t see Sergachev, only Braydon and Slater. 

“Hey Tony,” Slater waves. “How’s Braydon’s favorite ex-roomie?”

“Slater.” 

“What? He should know how I am by now,” Slater waves off Braydon’s warning glare.

“Yeah, I’m quite familiar from over the years,” Tony rolls his eyes and Slater beams at him.

“Have they assigned you a new partner yet?” Braydon asks.

“Yes, actually. I’m supposed to meet him here.” Tony indicates to the file in his hands. 

“Ooh, let me see,” Slater snatches the files from Tony. 

“Slater.”

“It’s fine,” Tony waving off Braydon this time. 

“Woah, you got an Izalivian?” 

“Uh, yeah?”

“Aren’t they kind of...weird?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, by galaxy standards, they’re a little...out there.” Slater shrugs. “They’re like the Russians on Earth. They just do their own thing like nobody else is all.” 

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“I agree,” Braydon adds. “Izalivians make great partners, they create deep bonds and protect their partners no matter the cost.” 

“Well, they can’t all have half-Oyterian princes to protect them,” Slater reaches a hand out to Braydon’s cheek.

Braydon leans into Slater’s hand then pulls it away to kiss inside his palm.

Tony clears his throat. “Still here, guys.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Slater slinks away. “I gotta go to the bridge anyway, we got a nasty meteor belt coming up.” 

“Well, the galaxy’s best pilot better hurry and get us through it,” Braydon salutes with a wink.

“Aye, aye,” Slater returns the gesture. Tony can see the spring in his step when he leaves.

“You wanna do a little one-on-one while we wait for your partner?” Braydon asks.

“Oh, sure,” Tony shrugs. “I do love getting my ass kicked by an Oyterian.”

“Half-Oyterian.” 

“Doesn’t mean it’s half an ass kicking.”

“Come on,” Braydon squares up, “You could always keep up with me.” 

“Fine,” Tony shrugs off his jacket and throws it to the side. “Let’s go.” He beckons Braydon to make the first move. 

Tony manages to only be thrown on his back twice before he’s mercifully saved by another person entering the training facility. He looks towards the door seeing upside down boots walking towards him. 

He heaves himself up and stifles a gasp, a hand coming up to cover his nose.

No. This can’t be happening.

“Are you Mikhail?” Braydon asks.

Yes, call me Misha,” he shakes Braydon’s hand.

“Braydon.”

“Is Anthony Cirelli here? I’m supposed to meet him.”

“That’d be him.” Braydon gestures to Tony with his head and steps out of the way.

“Sorry, I’m late.” Misha smiles. “My debriefing ran over.”

Tony just stares at Misha, a little wide eyed and he can feel the sweat starting to bead on his forehead. Misha just continues to smile at him and holds out his hand. 

Tony pulls his hand away from his face intending to shake Misha’s hand instead he feels like he’s been hit with an assault cruiser on his senses, making his knees go weak.

“WHY DO YOU SMELL LIKE THAT?” He yells before bolting out of the room.

~~~

Tony slides to the ground when the door to his quarters shut and buries his face in his hands. 

“No, no, no, no,” Tony chants to himself. “This can’t be happening. Why is this happening now of all times?”

_“Do...do I smell bad?”_

_“No...no. Tony’s Vezorian so…”_

Tony can still hear Misha and Braydon’s voices echoing through his head when he ran from the room. 

Smell bad? Quite the opposite. 

His new partner...is his mate. Why did it have to be his new partner? How is he going to stay around him? His whole body practically gave in when Misha walked near him. 

“And I yelled at him.” He sighs and lays his head against the door. “Great first impression, Tony.”

He startles when he hears a knock above his head. He groans to himself, wanting whoever is on the other side of the door to leave.

“Tony, open up.” 

He pulls himself up, begrudgingly opening the door to see Braydon’s sympathetic face staring back at him. 

“You left your jacket.”

“Thanks.” Tony takes it from Braydon and throws it over the back of his desk chair. 

“So, do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“That’s fine, but you should apologize to Misha since he thinks he offended you with his scent.”

“Ugh,” Tony buries his face in his hands. “His scent is anything but offensive to me.”

“It’s not?” Braydon frowns. 

“No, his scent is...perfect.”

“Okay...that still doesn’t explain why you yelled at him and ran out of the room…”

“When Vezorians find their mate, their scent is overwhelming...intoxicating, even.”

“Oh. Shit, Tony.”

“Yeah, and it only gets stronger over time too. How am I going to be able to work around him?”

“I thought you had that gel stuff you can use to block out scents?”

“It would be useless, this scent is different. It’s not one I can ignore.”

“Maybe it can at least dull it? You still have a job to do. He’s your new partner and you need to train him.”

“And what if it doesn’t? I’m not going to be able to concentrate around him and the scent’s just going to get continually stronger for me unless I act on it.”

Braydon sighs and rubs the back of his head.

“Look, I’m not the best person to be giving this type of advice. You know, considering it took Slater taking a blaster hit for me to realize…” 

“Yes, I am well aware of your obliviousness,” Tony quips. 

Braydon rolls his eyes, the tension in the room waning.

“I was not oblivious.” 

“However you want to slice it, but you two danced around each other for ages,” Tony smirks but it doesn’t carry the usual effect. He sighs and sits on the edge of his bed. “Maybe I should ask for a new partner..”

“No, that’s not fair to Misha.”

“I know, I know it’s not.” Tony runs a hand through his hair. “What am I going to do, Braydon?”

“You’re going to train your new partner and you two are going to be the best special ops team in the fleet, that’s what.” 

“Yeah, I guess,” a breathless chuckle leaves Tony.

“And you found your mate in all this!”

“Yeah, I doubt this will go both ways.”

“You don’t know that.” Braydon smiles and claps Tony on the shoulder. “Just make sure you apologize to him first. See you later.”

“Yeah. Later.” 

Tony hopes he can do damage control with Misha tomorrow.

~~~~

Tony steels himself as he enters the training facility the next day. He makes sure to wear a jacket with the highest collar he owns and used a huge dose of the desensitizing gel. He spots Misha on the other side of the room stretching. Misha’s scent still fills his senses the moment he steps in but the measures he’s taken seems to have dulled the sensation to a bearable amount.

That’s a success in his book.

Misha’s scent is still amazing though if the small shiver up Tony’s spine is any indication. 

“Oh, Vinir, give me strength,” Tony mutters to himself. 

Misha smiles at him when he notices Tony and immediately jogs over to him.

“Anthony, I want to apologize for yesterday. I didn’t realize you were Vezorian and I shouldn’t have worn such a strong cologne.” Misha runs a hand through his hair. “I just wanted to make a good first impression with the Captain so I wore my best.”

Tony takes a second to admire the difference in Misha’s appearance, from the scruff on his cheeks to his hair that isn’t plastered down and can be free to do whatever it wants. It’s mussed and fluffy...and Tony likes it. 

“I should be the one apologizing to you, you know.” Tony laughs and Misha joins him.

“Even so, I came fresh and clean from the showers, ready to start!” Misha pumps his arms up and down. 

It’s the cutest thing to watch and Tony definitely does not think about Misha in the shower. 

“Yes, well,” Tony adjusts his jacket collar in an attempt to hide the flush creeping onto his neck. “Let’s get started shall we? We’re a day behind now because of my outburst.”

“As you say, Anthony.”

“Call me Tony.”

“Alright...Tony,” Misha says his name slowly and shoots him the biggest smile Tony’s ever seen. 

They start with the basics, but not before long they’re getting into the more complex hand to hand situations. Ignoring Misha’s scent is difficult especially when they end up in positions with Misha right against him. Tony manages to power through it though.

“Let’s take a break,” Tony releases the hold he has on Misha. He gets up and throws a towel at him.

“Where did you even learn to fight like that?” Misha huffs and wipes his forehead. “It’s impressive.”

“Braydon, actually.”

“Oh, that makes sense. He told me he’s half-Oyterian.” Misha purses his lips, looking to be debating something. “Is he your, um..”

“No!” Tony says quickly. “Braydon’s just my ex-roommate from the Academy. I spent many hours training with him, you learn a few things over time...doesn’t stop the ass kickings though.” 

Misha laughs and it’s a beautiful sight.

“No wonder you’re so good at your job. I’m glad they picked you to be my partner.” 

Tony blushes and he hopes it just looks like he’s exerted too much during their practice. He steels himself when Misha steps closer to him and a shaky breath leaves Tony’s lips when Misha’s scent hits him again. 

“Oh, they could’ve picked someone better for your partner.” 

“I disagree.” Misha pokes his finger directly into Tony’s chest. “So, what should we do next, partner?”

“I think we’ve done enough for today. I don’t want to wear you out too quickly.”

“Fatigue immunity, Tony,” Misha smirks.

“Oh, right. Duh.” Tony smacks a hand to his forehead. 

“Maybe we should just get to know each other better?” 

Tony blinks, pleasantly surprised by Misha’s question. Tony barely knows anything about his former partner aside from his name and the planet he’s from. His old partner kept everything close to the vest and they never did get to know each other. Not that Tony didn’t try but he always kept Tony at arm’s length, always muttering something about not getting close to people in their profession. 

He doesn’t want to be like that though.

“What do you want to know?” 

“Ummm…” 

Misha makes a comical thinking face that Tony can’t help but think is ridiculously cute.

“What’s Vezoria like?”

“Oh, Vezoria’s nothing special. We have big cities but also a lot of trees and flowers everywhere, too. It’s not particularly special from the other big planets in our area.”

“Anything is better than Izaliv.”

“What’s it like there?”

“White.” Misha deadpans. 

Tony purses his lips but a small squeak still escapes because of the look of absolute disdain on Misha’s face.. 

“I heard you guys have a perma-winter there.”

“It’s harsh and cold and it never lets up. We’re made to withstand it though, we can’t get sick and we don’t need to rest.”

“Those are incredibly useful skills though.”

“Now you’re sounding like the guy who recruited me,” Misha smirks. “Except no complaints about how ‘fucking cold’ it is.” 

“Well, if I ever go to Izaliv, I’ll be sure to complain about it.”

“Don’t worry, I’d keep you warm.” Tony’s heart skips when Misha’s hand grabs his own. “We run hot.” 

“I’ll be sure to remember that.” 

He swallows hard when he feels Misha squeeze his hand before letting go, already missing the warmth of it.

“Wanna go to the mess hall so we can keep talking?” Misha suggests.

“Sounds good to me. I wonder what Yanni’s cooked up today.”

“Wow, this smells delicious,” Misha picks up a fresh roll and squeezes it.

“Wait until you taste it.”

“I can already tell this food is way better than what they serve at the Academy!”

Tony watches Misha take an experimental sip of his soup, smiling at the way Misha’s face lights up.

“You’re lucky you came after Yanni became the chef here,” Tony says between bites. “It was just as bad as Academy food before but Yanni was having none of it and redid the whole kitchen.” 

“He sounds feisty if the Federation let him do that.”

“Oh, you have no idea.”

“Wow! You have to try this beef, it tastes just like my mom makes it!” Misha piles some onto his fork and puts it on Tony’s plate. Tony raises an eyebrow when Misha doesn’t stop there and puts a few other bits of his food there too.

“You don’t have to give me your food, I can just go back up and get some.”

Misha waves him off.

“I don’t mind sharing.”

They smile at each other, it’s fleeting because Misha looks past Tony and frowns.

“What?”

“I think that guy is staring?”

Tony turns around to see Slater casually eating cake and totally staring. He waves to Tony but doesn’t wait for any response and gets up from his seat, whistling a tune when he passes them. 

“That’s just Slater.”

“Is he always like that?”

“Pretty much.” 

They laugh together and continue enjoying each other’s company.

~~~

“Mission day, yes!” Slater practically jumps off the bed when the alarm goes off.

“It’s a training mission, Slater,” Braydon mutters, still half asleep. 

“A mission’s a mission!”

“You’re just happy to get off the ship for awhile,” Bradyon sits up and stretches. 

“It’s peacetime, I am _bored._ ”

“Well, I’m sure Tony and Misha will be happy to have you as their pilot for the day.”

“I wouldn’t complain if a certain tactical officer joined me in the cockpit at some point though,” Slater wiggles his eyebrows.

“I’m supervising.”

“Fine.” Slater pouts.

“Get dressed.” Braydon presses a kiss to his temple on the way to the bathroom. 

~

“Where are you guys off to today?” Jake looks up from his tablet.

“The Sanctum of Zuvohr.” Braydon answers.

“Yeah, gotta break the newbie in!” Slater points to Misha over his shoulder. 

“Just don’t get any dents in my ships.”

“You’re never gonna let that go, are you?” Slater huffs.

“Nope.”

Slater rolls his eyes and takes the manifest from Jake to sign out the ship. 

“Good luck on your mission!” Jake says cheerfully to them before flicking Slater off, who returns the gesture with a grin.

The four of them head into the small cruiser and once they hit open space, Braydon goes over the mission details.

“First mission, you excited, Misha?” Slater asks.

“Yes, it may be training but I’m excited to use my skills.”

“This is a recon mission so your skills will be extremely helpful here,” Tony bumps his shoulder.

“I have no doubt you will both finish this mission successfully,” Braydon nods. 

When they arrive at the Sanctum, Braydon debriefs Tony and Misha before they head off. Slater throws himself down next to the spot Braydon sets up. Braydon pulls out his binoculars to observe but they’re quickly pulled from his hand.

“Um, I need those.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if anything goes awry,” Slater waves him off.

“Slater.” 

Slater ignores Braydon and looks through the binoculars trying to locate Tony and Misha. Luckily, the binoculars have heat vision so they’re easy to find. 

“Did you see them earlier on the ship, babe? They were totally flirting.”

“Whether they were or not is none of our business.”

“You said that Misha is Tony’s soul...scent mate? Right?” Slater looks away from the binoculars to Braydon who is watching them through the scope of his phaser gun. 

“Yes, I did.”

“Okay, so they need to be together then.”

“It’s not that simple, Slater. Tony’s not even sure Misha would reciprocate.”

“Pfft.” Slater laughs. “Misha is head over heels for Tony, it’s obvious.”

“Don’t interfere, it’s not our place.”

“Says you.” Slater grumbles but goes back to watching them. Slater knows they are meant for each other just from his previous observations of them in the mess hall and even now watching them share lingering touches and longing gazes with each other for the past few hours would be enough to convince anyone. 

“Can I have my binoculars back? I’m getting tired of looking through the scope.”

“I told you I’d let you know if anything happens.” Slater swats away Braydon’s hand that he knows he’s holding out despite not looking. “Just lay back and relax a little bit.”

“That’s not exactly supervising.” 

Slater can hear the amusement bleeding through Braydon’s grump.

“You’ve delegated it to me, that’s real supervising.” He grins when Braydon laughs. Slater’s won. 

Braydon finally starts to relax and Slater continues with his spying.

“Oh, should be getting good now!” Slater says when Tony and Misha finally stop to rest for the night.

“Have they almost held hands again?” Braydon chuckles.

“Excuse me, they did hold hands about an hour ago!”

“You said Misha was helping Tony up a ledge.”

“That’s still counts!” Slater tears his eyes away to stick his tongue out at Braydon who returns a wink to him.

“Whatever you say, babe.” Braydon rummages in his bag for some rations. “You want a banana nut muffin?” Braydon holds up a small silver bag.

“Yes, please.”

“You have put those down for a little bit,” Braydon indicates to the binoculars.

Slater sighs. “Fine, they’re just setting up camp anyway.”

Braydon tears open the package and pours the powder into a small bowl, adding a small amount of water to it. Slater watches the muffin form in the tin.

“Yummy,” Slater licks his lips. “You always make sure to bring my favorites.”

Braydon kisses Slater on the forehead and steals the binoculars back.

“HEY!”

“Eat your muffin.”

“But what if something happens?” Slater whines.

“I’ll tell you,” Braydon adjusts the binoculars.

“I don’t want you to tell me, I wanna see it.”

“You can have them back after you finish your muffin.”

Slater proceeds to start stuffing his face with it. 

“Oh, that’s interesting…”

“What?” Slater says with a mouth full of food. “What’s happening?!” He crawls on top of Braydon trying to get the binoculars back. 

“Real interesting...”

“Gimme!” Slater wrestles the binoculars away from him and finds Tony and Misha again. “They aren’t doing anything! Misha’s making rations!”

“I was just admiring some of the luminescent bats in the cave.” Braydon says all too innocently.

Slater glares back at him. From his struggle to retrieve the binoculars back he ended up straddling Braydon’s waist backwards.

“Though I’m much more fond of this view,” Braydon places his hands on Slater’s ass and squeezes.

“I thought you were supervising.”

“Now I’m supervising your ass.”

Slater laughs so hard he falls off of Braydon. 

“See? No one believes you have this side to you!”

“That’s because I only show it to you.” 

“I’m flattered,” Slater shakes his head and goes back to his previous spying. He gasps at what he sees. “Babe! BABE!”

“What? Is there an enemy?!” 

“No, Misha wiped a bit of food off Tony’s chin!”

“What the hell, Slater?”

“It’s adorable!!” 

Braydon doesn’t respond but Slater can practically hear the eye rolling. His attention is elsewhere, though. Slater can’t help but smile, he’s pretty sure he would be able to see Tony’s blush even without the binoculars. 

He watches them intently after that. Loves the way Tony always knocks their knees together for a brief touch or how Misha tucks that stray curl that always gets away from Tony. 

Ugh. They’re so cute. 

Tony eventually stifles a big yawn and Misha immediately attends to him.

“Is he gonna...” Slater leans forwards as if that will afford him a better view. “OH! He’s offering Tony his jacket!” 

Slater can see the hesitation on Tony’s face.

“Come on, take it,” he mutters. “Yes!”

Tony lets Misha drape his jacket over him like a blanket and he totally nuzzles into the collar of it. Tony’s exhaustion is obvious and it doesn’t take him long to nod off.

“Holy shit, Tony’s asleep and Misha’s pulling him close! See? I told you!”

“You still have to let them figure it out.”

“Ugh, this is so romantic...and he just nuzzled into his hair, oh my word!” 

“You’re really into this.”

“I’m gonna die this is so cute! Wha- HEY! Give it back!” Slater frowns.

“You’ve done enough spying, it’s time you rested too.”

“I’m not tired!” Slater yawns despite himself.

“Go rest, our pilot needs to be in good form tomorrow.”

“Fine,” he heaves himself up. “If anything happens I want details, okay?”

“Yes, sir.” 

Slater presses a kiss to Braydon’s lips before retiring to the cruiser for the rest of the evening.

~~

Misha readies his phaser and waits for the targets to appear. He always likes going to the shooting range to clear his head. He shoots all the targets effortlessly and waits for the next set. 

His mind, as it so often does now, wanders to Tony. He smiles at the thought of him, they’ve finished all their training missions and are going to be receiving officials missions soon. He’s so happy and comfortable with Tony but...

Misha wants so much more with Tony.

He’ll gladly admit he’s fallen head over heels for Tony. He’s smart, capable, and absolutely beautiful. Misha loves that one curl that likes to escape down Tony’s forehead, his lips that he wants to smother with kisses, and that nose he wants to nuzzle all the time. And Tony’s eyes, Misha would happily get lost in them every day for the rest of his life. 

Misha sighs, he wants to make a move because he’s pretty sure Tony has feelings for him too but he doesn’t want to make their partnership awkward if Misha’s reading the signs wrong. 

“Hey, Misha!” 

He shakes his head and turns to find Slater smiling at him.

“Oh, hey. What’s up?” 

“Just wanted to shoot a few rounds,” Slater grabs a nearby blaster and begins shooting.

“You’re a pretty good shot!”

“You should see me in my cruiser during battle,” Slater grins.

“I’m sure I will sometime soon.”

“Oh, yeah! You and Tony finished all your training. Congratulations!” 

“Thanks!” Misha rubs the back of his head, “I’m so glad Tony and I work well together.”

“Me too, you two have come a long way from how you first met!”

“Oh, you heard about that?” 

“I made Braydon tell me,” Slater shrugs.

“I’ve been very conscious of not wearing stuff like that because of Tony’s heightened sense of smell.”

“Yeah, I bet it can be overwhelming at times but it sure does come in handy for some things, especially that whole scent mate deal.”

“Scent mate?” Misha cocks his head.

“Yeah, when a Vezorian finds their mate it’s a special scent, heard it’s pretty intense for them.”

“Oh...” 

Slater keeps talking but Misha stopped listening because he’s remembering the first time he met Tony and how he reacted, or the way Tony would look extra flustered around Misha especially early on. 

His eyes widen when he remembers how Tony always nuzzled into his offered jacket on their recon missions.

Is he Tony’s…?

“I have to go, sorry.”

Misha rushes out of the shooting range before Slater can even reply.

~~

Tony strolls through the space deck on the upper level of the SSE Bolt. It’s the perfect place to come and relax. It’s a beautiful space, a terrarium filled with plants and trees from various planets. Anyone on the ship could find a small piece of home here if they looked long enough. 

Tony admires a few Rephorian moonflowers before going to his favorite spot; a bench in the most secluded corner of the space deck. He always comes here to think and just stare up at the endless stretches of space above him. 

“Care for some company?”

Tony looks over towards the source of the voice, smiling when he sees Misha standing there looking absolutely ethereal bathed in the starlight. 

“I’ll never say no to your company.” Tony rises and walks towards Misha, who meets him halfway.

“Glad to hear it,” Misha smiles softly and Tony sighs at the sight of it. “This is a nice spot too.” 

“It’s my favorite spot because there’s Vezorian flowers over here.”

“Oh, which ones? Show me?” 

Tony motions Misha over towards a nearby wall, long violet flowers just on the edge peeking over the top. 

“They’re Vezorian nightshades.”

“They’re beautiful.”

“Most don’t enjoy them because they think they have no scent,” Tony explains. “But we can smell them and they’re magnificent.”

“Can I ask you something about the scents?”

“Of course,” Tony turns to Misha, who’s still staring at the nightshades.

“Does everyone have a specific scent to them?”

“Basically yeah, although when there’s a couple their scents tend to muddle because they’re together but then it’s practically a new scent. It’s their scent.” Tony explains.

“That makes sense.”

“Like when I first met Braydon and Slater, their scents were separate but now they’ve mixed together.”

“Does everyone have a nice scent?” Misha faces Tony now.

“For the most part, yeah. But if a person’s not so great their scent usually isn’t either. Makes it easy to find out who to avoid,” Tony laughs but stops when he realizes Misha’s not laughing but staring at him with an intense look in his eye. He wonders if he said something wrong.

“How is my scent for you?” 

“Wh-what?” Tony’s whole face goes hot at Misha’s question, not realizing he’s backing up against the wall.

Misha follows, grabbing Tony’s wrists and pushing them up against the cold metal behind them. 

“How is my scent for _you_?” Misha asks again, slower this time and Tony’s knees go weak at Misha’s breath against his jaw.

He swallows hard and looks into Misha’s eyes. 

“It’s...it’s…”

Misha slides his hands up, intertwines their fingers, and presses himself even closer. Tony breathes in deeply and closes his eyes. 

“Overwhelming. Intoxicating. Beautiful.”

There’s silence after that and Tony’s afraid to open his eyes and see the expression on Misha’s face. 

“Tony.”

Misha says his name so softly...so reverently, that Tony’s eyes flutter open.

And meet Misha’s hot gaze.

“That’s exactly how I would describe you too,” Misha says on Tony’s lips just as he claims them in a passionate kiss. Misha frees Tony’s hands to wrap them around his torso while his own find refuge in Misha’s hair. Tony deepens their kiss almost immediately, moaning against Misha’s lips, his senses are completely overrun. 

He reluctantly breaks the kiss when it becomes too much, melting against Misha since he can no longer support his own weight. Misha holds him steady, nuzzling Tony’s temple then pressing a kiss there. 

“Wow.” 

“Too much?” Misha whispers.

“Not enough,” Tony lets out a shaky breath. He grabs at Misha’s collar to pull it aside and buries his face in his neck, breathing him in again. A moan escapes Misha this time when Tony begins kissing and sucking on the tender skin. 

Tony pulls back when his senses become overstimulated again, relaxing back against the wall. 

“You okay?” Misha cups Tony’s face and nuzzles their noses together. 

“Yeah. I’m good.” Tony laughs out breathlessly. “Amazing, actually.”

“It’s a lot, isn’t it?”

Tony nods.

“Will it always be like that?”

“No,” Tony shakes his head. “It’ll calm down. Your scent will always be exciting to me but it’ll also be something that is safe and comfortable.”

“Good.” Misha brushes Tony’s curl out of his face. “Guess, we’ll just have to spend a lot of time together, huh?”

“Good thing we’re partners then.”

They both laugh and kiss once more before pulling apart, their hands still tightly grasped though. 

“I’m gonna need a nap or something because I am exhausted now.” Tony yawns.

“You did say my scent was overwhelming.”

“In the best way possible.”

Misha smiles and kisses him again, soft and quick. 

“Let’s take a nap then. Your quarters or mine...actually, let’s do yours.”

“Good call.” 

On the way to Tony’s quarters they pass by Slater who looks like he was ready to vibrate out of his skin from excitement. He greets them and carries on his way. 

“Wow, this is like twice the size of mine. And no roommate!”

“I wouldn’t mind if you were my roommate though,” Tony replies shyly.

“Well, that bed does look big enough for two...” Misha purrs, pulling Tony towards him.

“Why don’t we test it out?” Tony spins Misha around and pushes him down on the bed. 

Misha yelps in surprise when his back hits the bed.

“I thought you were tired?”

“Oh, I am.” Tony crawls up on the bed and practically falls on top of Misha who responds with a soft ‘oof’, but strong arms snake around Tony’s waist and hug him close. 

Tony sighs and completely relaxes on Misha. A hand trails up Tony’s back and to his collar, Misha’s rough fingers playing with the hair on the nape of his neck. He breathes deeply taking in Misha’s scent, letting it wash over him and lull him to sleep. 

Misha kisses his forehead just as sleep claims him.


End file.
